Identifying the magnetospheric drivers of giant undulations: Global
modeling of the evolving inner magnetosphere and its auroral
manifestations
Abstract
We present the first global geospace simulation to reproduce auroral
giant undulations (GUs). To identify their magnetospheric drivers, we
employ the MAGE (Multiscale Atmosphere-Geospace Environment) model in a
case study of a geomagnetic storm for which there were spacecraft- and
ground-based observations of GUs. The model reproduces the spatial and
temporal scales of the GUs as well as the presence of duskside
subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) and plasmapause undulations.
Based on our modeling, we are able to identify the magnetospheric
drivers of GUs as mesoscale ring current injections which, after
drifting westward, create inverted regions of flux-tube entropy (FTE)
and subsequent interchange instability. Outward-protruding interchange
fingers disrupt shielding of the inner magnetosphere, creating
longitudinally-localized ripples in magnetospheric convection
equatorward of the magnetospheric instability, which structure the
plasmapause and duskside diffuse precipitation. While not causal, SAPS
and plasmapause undulations are a consequence of the unstable
magnetospheric configuration.